Snúður

Ingredients

The dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 7 gdried yeast
• 250 mlwarm milk
• 80 gbutter, softened
• 1egg
• 60 gsugar
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 1 teaspoonground cardamom
• optional

The filling

• 100 gbutter, very soft
• 100 gsoft brown sugar
• 2 tablespoonsground cinnamon
• a pinch of salt

The glaze

• 200 gdark chocolate
• or 200 g icing sugar
• plus caramel or coffee
• 50 gbutter
• 2 tablespoonscream
• or milk

To serve

• at room temperature
• with coffee
• from an Icelandic bakery
• at any time of day

Directions

1. Butter, brown sugar and cinnamon make the filling. Sprinkled dry sugar simply falls out. Roll the log tightly rather than loosely. Keep steady tension as you roll it up. It sticks to skin and keeps burning on contact.
2. Keep children away from the pan entirely. Warm the milk gently until it is just lukewarm. It should feel barely warm on the inside of your wrist. Stir the yeast and a spoon of the sugar into the milk. Leave it for about ten minutes to become frothy. Start again with fresh yeast if nothing happens.
3. Put the flour, remaining sugar, salt and cardamom in a bowl. Mix the salt through the flour before liquid goes in. Salt kills yeast on direct prolonged contact. Add the yeast milk, the egg and the softened butter.
4. Pour them all into the well in the flour. Bring the flour in from the edges gradually. Work it together into a rough soft dough. Knead the dough for about ten minutes until smooth. Enriched dough with butter and egg takes real work.
5. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise. Give it about ninety minutes in a warm place. Butter and egg both slow the yeast considerably. Beat the very soft butter with sugar and cinnamon. Beat it until it is a smooth spreadable paste. Add a pinch of salt to sharpen the sweetness. It should be spreadable rather than firm or runny.
6. Keep it at room temperature until you need it. Roll it into a large rectangle on a floured surface. Aim for about forty by thirty centimetres. Keep the edges reasonably straight as you roll. Spread the cinnamon butter over the whole rectangle. Spread it right to three of the four edges.
7. Leave a clean strip along one long edge. Spread it evenly rather than in patches. Roll the rectangle up tightly from the long edge. Roll from the filled long edge toward the clean one. Keep steady tension throughout the rolling. Press the clean edge to seal the seam. Cut the log into twelve equal pieces. Use a sharp knife and cut cleanly downward. Thread slid under and pulled tight cuts cleanly.
8. Set the rolls cut side up on a lined tray. The spiral must face upward to be visible. Leave about four centimetres between them. They join together if crowded on the tray. Cover the tray and let the rolls prove again. Give them about forty minutes to puff up. Cover them loosely so they do not dry out.
9. Bake them in a moderate oven until golden. About one hundred and eighty degrees works well. Press the centre of one gently with a finger. It should feel set rather than wet or squashy.
10. Let the buns cool completely on a rack. Glaze poured on a warm bun simply runs off. Melt the chocolate with the butter and cream. Use a bowl set over barely simmering water. The bowl must not touch the water at all. Stir it gently until it is smooth and glossy.
11. Take it off the heat as soon as it melts. Chocolate seizes if any water gets into it. Keep all steam and water out of the bowl. Dry every utensil before it touches the chocolate.
12. Mix icing sugar with a little hot water or coffee. The glaze should be thick rather than runny. Add more icing sugar if it is too thin. Spread the glaze thickly over each cooled bun. Cover the whole top surface completely. Spread it right to the edges of the bun.
13. Use a palette knife or the back of a spoon. It should be a genuinely thick layer. Hold it upside down and dip it in. That gives a very even thick covering.
14. Let the glaze set before moving the buns. Chocolate glaze sets firm within an hour. Serve the snúðar at room temperature with coffee. They keep two days in an airtight container. Freeze them once cooled and glaze after thawing. Glazed buns do not freeze nearly as well.

Technique

• Let the buns cool completely, at least an hour, before glazing — glaze poured on a warm bun simply runs off and needs a cold surface to set on. Do not stack them before the glaze has set, or they stick together permanently.
• Chocolate seizes if any water reaches it, turning grainy and stiff beyond saving. Melt it over barely simmering water in a bowl that does not touch the water, keep all steam out, and dry every utensil before it goes near the chocolate.
• These contain wheat, dairy and egg throughout, with more dairy in the chocolate glaze, and some chocolate carries traces of nuts — say clearly what is in them. If you make a caramel glaze, hot caramel is far above boiling water and keeps burning on contact.

Substitutions

• An icing sugar glaze mixed with a little hot water or coffee, or caramel sauce beaten with icing sugar, replaces the chocolate — all are genuinely used in Iceland and bakeries often offer several side by side.
• The cardamom in the dough is optional: some Icelandic recipes use it and some do not, and both versions are genuinely made.

Variations

• Roll the log up tightly from the long edge, keeping steady tension: a loose roll unwinds during baking, and rolling from the long edge gives many more turns in the spiral than the short edge, which gives fat stubby rolls. Leave a clean strip along the far long edge to seal the seam.
• Cut the log with a length of thread slid underneath, crossed over the top and pulled tight — it cuts straight through without squashing the spiral the way even a sharp knife can, and it is genuinely the neatest method.
• The thick opaque lid of glaze is the Icelandic distinction from Nordic relatives like the Swedish kanelbulle, which carries only pearl sugar — be generous with it rather than sparing, since a thin scrape is not a snúður and the glaze is as much of the appeal as the bun.

History

An Icelandic bakery standard, larger and far more heavily iced than its Nordic relatives.

Frequently asked questions

What is Snúður?

Snúður is a bread & pastry from Iceland: cinnamon roll under a thick lid of chocolate or caramel glaze. An Icelandic bakery standard, larger and far more heavily iced than its Nordic relatives.

How long does Snúður take to make?

Snúður takes 40 minutes plus rising of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes 12. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Snúður?

Yes, within limits. An icing sugar glaze mixed with a little hot water or coffee, or caramel sauce beaten with icing sugar, replaces the chocolate — all are genuinely used in Iceland and bakeries often offer several side by side. The cardamom in the dough is optional: some Icelandic recipes use it and some do not, and both versions are genuinely made.

What is the most important thing to get right in Snúður?

Butter, brown sugar and cinnamon make the filling. Sprinkled dry sugar simply falls out. Roll the log tightly rather than loosely. Keep steady tension as you roll it up. It sticks to skin and keeps burning on contact.